Journal De Bruxelles - Fiji defeat England for first time to send World Cup warning

NYSE - LSE
RIO 0.42% 103.27 $
BTI -1.12% 55.35 $
CMSD -0.34% 20.69 $
AZN -1.27% 162.7 $
BCE -0.59% 23.67 $
BCC 2.64% 79.21 $
GSK -1.96% 49.89 $
RBGPF 0% 70 $
CMSC -0.53% 20.81 $
NGG -0.06% 78.12 $
JRI -0.58% 12.14 $
RELX -3.21% 35.51 $
VOD 1.89% 16.9 $
BP 0.52% 43.81 $
RYCEF 0.7% 19.92 $
Fiji defeat England for first time to send World Cup warning
Fiji defeat England for first time to send World Cup warning / Photo: Ian Kington - AFP

Fiji defeat England for first time to send World Cup warning

Fiji beat England for the first time with a 30-22 victory in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham on Saturday.

Text size:

The Pacific islanders fully deserved their win in a match where both teams scored three tries, with this reverse meaning England head to the World Cup in France on a run of five defeats in six matches.

Fiji were 12 points ahead early in the second half and although England closed to within a point, the visitors pulled clear with a try seven minutes from time by replacement Simione Kuruvoli.

England desperately needed a win ahead of a tough Pool D World Cup opener against Argentina in Marseille on September 9.

Fiji, meanwhile will be in buoyant mood in the run-up to a World Cup they begin against Wales -- the team they knocked out of the 2007 edition in France -- in Bordeaux on September 10.

A.Thys--JdB